Eureka author discusses presidential retreats

As a former advisor to Ronald Reagan, Peter Hannaford knows a thing or two about presidents and how they escape the burdens of their job.

"Most of the books I've written have been about the president and the presidency," he said. "I've found that our presidents came in all shapes, sizes and dispositions. Some were failures. But they all did the best they could given their capabilities and the situations they faced. And they all needed to get away from the pressures of the job."

Hannaford, who has lived in Humboldt County for six years after retiring from a career as a Washington, D.C.-based consultant, will be celebrating the publication of his new book, "Presidential Retreats: Where the Presidents Went and Why They Went There," with two local events.

He'll sign books at Eureka Books, 426 Second St., on Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m. as part of Arts Alive! Then, on Sunday, Hannaford will give a talk about the book at Old Town Coffee & Chocolates, 211 F St. in Eureka, at 2 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

Hannaford retired to Humboldt because his wife, Irene, is a member of the Russ family, which has lived in and around Ferndale for nearly 150 years. The idea for the book came about several years ago when Hannaford, now chair of the Humboldt County Republican Party, wrote a book titled "Ronald Reagan and His Ranch."

"In the process of writing about it, I stopped to think about other presidents and their retreats," he said. "So I started looking into it and I got really fascinated."

Hannaford visited several of the retreats personally, including those of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Nixon, Reagan and many others.

"I thought it was an interesting question," he said. "Where do you go to relax when you are the leader of the free world?"

The first purpose-built presidential retreat, according to Hannaford, was Thomas Jefferson's. He had inherited a plantation about 60 miles from Monticello, and in 1800, the year he defeated John Adams, he was stuck in the caretaker's house during a storm. At that moment he decided to build a get-away, which he designed himself.

It may be hard to imagine a modern-day presidential candidate stuck in an isolated cabin during a storm in the year of his campaign, but Hannaford's book does carry straight through to the present administration, including President Barack Obama's vacation spot in Hawaii and a story about a golf game in which Obama's opponent teasingly promised him to credit his handicap one point for every trillion dollars the President agreed to cut federal spending.

The book is available locally and wherever books are sold online. For more information, visit www.eurekabooksellers.com or call 444-9593.